I got a phone call from Jim Langford in May asking me if I would like to set a Rogaine in October. I agreed immediately and was looking forward to enjoy setting up this rogaine from start to finish. Since I am retired and had plenty of time, I volunteered to print the pre-event maps, get permission from the farmers and CALM and organise and coordinate all other aspects of this rogaine.

However, I had no previous experience in organising and coordinating a rogaine and therefore had to rely on some help from other, more experienced rogainers. Jim Langford suggested an area southwest of York and also provided me with the Club's printer, the OCAD software and the digital data required to create the necessary maps. Ricky Thackray was my “setting” partner. He is an experienced setter and provided helpful advice in setting up the controls. The vetters were Bruce Makin and Sandra Batley. They ensured that the locations and descriptions of the controls were spot-on. They also suggested safer alternative locations, such as moving a control away from a large bull ant nest and moving a control from the top of a 5 metre high boulder.

I initially drew a new map of the area and added the controls and the HH site during an armchair setting session. The next step was to inspect the area and contact the farmers. The area contained an interesting mixture of farmland, open bush, a bit of parrot bush and two large swamps. All the farmers were friendly and all but one gave permission to use their property. The only change I had to make was to shift the map further to the west to exclude the farm for which access permission was not granted.

The next step was to get permission from CALM to access the catchment area. Ian Thomsett was kind enough to contact CALM to get the necessary approval. The fieldwork of setting and vetting the controls was a wonderful experience. I have never seen so many wild flowers in a rogaine. Near the swamps there was a carpet of flowers and orchids could be seen throughout the area. Bruce Makin was in his element taking many photos of the orchids. Some of these photos were displayed during the event. The wild life was abundant, plenty of kangaroos, snakes and wild boars. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a wild boar jumped out of the bushes only about 20 metres from me.

There was plenty of rain when we were setting the controls, resulting in a lot of flooding, especially near the swamps. Access on tracks near the swamps was impossible and we bogged our vehicle once. This is one on the reasons why this rogaine was called the Dark Swamp Rogaine. Luckily, by the time of the event, there was only a 70 metre flooded track to wade through.

The main setback we had was a controlled burn a few weeks before the event. Some alternative controls were created to replace to ones in the burned area. However, an inspection just before the event indicated that this area was safe and the burned controls were re-instated. However some of the participants still noticed a few smouldering logs on the day of the event.

The NO SHOOTING signs were essential in this area. One of our controls was shot to pieces, including the sapling it was hanging from. This occurred a few weeks before the event.

When I volunteered it was my intention to be there during the actual event. However, soon after I volunteered, I was informed that my niece was getting married on the same day. Warren Smith kindly offered to his services to take my place during the event. I also thank Warren for his valuable advice and for holding the post-event barbecue at his place. Thanks also to Paul Szijarto for his advice and organising the printing of the participant's maps.

Saturday turned out to be a fine day, 28º C, maybe a bit too warm for some of the participants. An amazing 470 people participated in the rogaine. I hope everybody enjoyed the rogaine and took time off to admire the wild flowers, There were no snake bites or attacks by roaming wild boars although I am sure that some of you may have been attacked by kangaroo ticks or bull ants. No one stepped on the smouldering remains from the fire and no one got mired in the mud at the swamps. I admire the team who crossed the entire Swamp from East to West. Maybe they were carrying a canoe. I also hope you enjoyed the roaring hash house fire and the delicious food.

Jim Klinge, on behalf of the setting and vetting team